A man who beat his girlfriend to death in her home in east London then lied to police that she had collapsed on her bed has finally admitted half-way through his trial to killing her.

Hussein Abu, a 37-year-old from Whitechapel, changed his plea to guilty of manslaughter during today’s proceedings at the Old Bailey, when he accepted responsibility for the death of 26-year-old Sannah Javed at her Ilford flat on December 2.

Sannah had been in a turbulent relationship with Abu for several years, the court heard. Their relationship had been peppered with domestic rows.

Police were called to her flat in Ilford’s Green Lane at around 11.15pm that evening, after the Ambulance Service answered a call about a woman having collapsed.

Abu claimed Sannah had collapsed while sitting on her bed, but later gave alternative versions of the evening’s events, said prosecutors.

Sannah was rushed to King George Hospital in Seven Kings, but died an hour later.

A post mortem on December 6 found she had internal and external injuries, some appearing to be from violent assault, Home Office Pathologist Dr Ashley Fegan-Earl concluded.

Abu was arrested and charged the following day with manslaughter, despite denying causing her death.

“He had ample opportunity to admit his guilt earlier,” Det Chief Insp Tim Duffield from the Met’s Homicide and Serious Crime Command said after Abu’s change of plea.

“But he chose to put Sannah’s family through the further ordeal of a criminal trial.

“The police investigation exposed him as a violent and controlling man, a person who was prepared to lie after attacking his partner to escape justice.”

The detective chief addded: “I hope today’s outcome helps Sannah’s family begin to come to terms with their loss.”

Abu, from Whitechapel Road in Whitechapel, will be sentenced at the Old Bailey tomorrow.

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